Global Health

City traffic in Thailand
  • Air pollution is a global issue
  • It affects millions of people around the world
  • It leads to early deaths and productivity loss due to lung and heart disease
  • Pollution drifts across continents to affect populations worldwide
  • Although developed countries have seen improvements, developing countries with growing economies are experiencing worse air quality
  • Air quality and climate issues are increasingly interrelated

    • HEI supports research across the globe. Although a majority of HEI’s studies have been in North America, important additional scientific insights have been provided by studies in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Science to understand air pollution health effects is much needed in China, India, and developing Asia, where air pollution from a broad range of sources directly impacts the health of local and regional populations, is transported to Japan and the Western United States (affecting the health of populations there).

    Air pollution originating in Asia also contributes a large percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, the 2015 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) found that ambient PM2.5 air pollution contributed to over 4.2 million deaths and 103 million lost-years-of-healthy life worldwide in 2015, of which 59% were in developing Asia. HEI’s State of Global Air provides the latest trends in air quality and its impact on human health around the world.

    Global Burden of Disease Global Research State of Global Air